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Generic SSD drive keeps disconnecting during Catalina install or back up

Hello


I got this SSD 500 drive from ebay, it is also compatible for a MacBook Pro A1398 like between 2012-2014.

I never used it as a system or internally, its inside an enclosure..but I tried installing Catalina on it today, erased it APFS Guide partition and all but it kept getting disconnecting unexpectedly., the same thing happened when I decided to migrate a Time Machine back up with a help of a friend using the right cables.


Is there something wrong with this drive, something in a log I can see to find out what is causing it, maybe firmware etc?


Please advise, very much appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 1, 2021 5:44 PM

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Posted on Feb 2, 2021 3:57 PM

It is hard to say as the issue could be any of the items you referenced or it could be a cable issue or a port issue with your laptop (hardware or software).


Is the drive connected directly to the laptop? Many times hubs & docks are poorly made. If the SSD has been connected directly to the laptop have you tried connecting the drive to a good brand of powered USB3 hub?


What is the make & model of the SSD?


How are you connecting the drive to your Mac? Have you tried a different cable? A different port on the laptop? Have you tried the drive with another computer?


Did you erase the whole physical drive instead of just erasing the volume/partition?


To check the health of the SSD you can try running DriveDx, but you will need to install a special USB driver so that DriveDx can access the external drive's health information. Even with the special USB driver DriveDx may not be able to access the SSD's health information because some external drives' USB chipsets don't allow the necessary communication. If you can access the SSD's health report, then post it here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.


You may want to return the SSD if the eBay seller has a return policy.


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Feb 2, 2021 3:57 PM in response to GavrielTech

It is hard to say as the issue could be any of the items you referenced or it could be a cable issue or a port issue with your laptop (hardware or software).


Is the drive connected directly to the laptop? Many times hubs & docks are poorly made. If the SSD has been connected directly to the laptop have you tried connecting the drive to a good brand of powered USB3 hub?


What is the make & model of the SSD?


How are you connecting the drive to your Mac? Have you tried a different cable? A different port on the laptop? Have you tried the drive with another computer?


Did you erase the whole physical drive instead of just erasing the volume/partition?


To check the health of the SSD you can try running DriveDx, but you will need to install a special USB driver so that DriveDx can access the external drive's health information. Even with the special USB driver DriveDx may not be able to access the SSD's health information because some external drives' USB chipsets don't allow the necessary communication. If you can access the SSD's health report, then post it here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.


You may want to return the SSD if the eBay seller has a return policy.


Feb 2, 2021 4:26 PM in response to GavrielTech

We've seen a number of posts from people who bought computers or disk drives on eBay and ended up with equipment that did not work properly. It's something of a gamble. The problem is, for something like a disk drive, the reason a person is selling it on eBay could well be that it was intermittently not working ... Unless you can find a simple solution like a bad cable or a bad enclosure/connector, I don't think I would ever trust that drive for anything crucial.


We use MANY external drives here and when they start disconnecting like that unexpectedly, we erase/format them and discard them (both mechanical and SSD). A small percentage of them do have these issues. Troubleshooting them is often a long process without satisfactory resolution. They are mass produced and the manufacturers accept a certain percentage of failure rate within their business model. A lower failure rate would either raise the price of the drive or result in lower profits. (You can almost tell what that failure rate is by looking on Amazon and seeing the number of "one star" reviews, it's often on the order of 1% or so.) But a used device from eBay in a generic enclosure will probably have a higher chance of failure.


As HWTech indicated, running DriveDX will give you specific info about how much of the drive's life has been used up, based on measured SMART parameters and some other diagnostics. But the device does not seem usable in its present form. (Hoping you did not pay a lot ...)

Feb 2, 2021 5:47 PM in response to steve626

Cant thank you enough for such details,


Btw the ssd was new, but from a ebay seller in china 🙄, maybe its a firmware conflict with the external enclosure, there was a time i swapped it with the original internal Apple SSD but i decided to remove it after having issues with Catalina updates but now I got a better idea of what to do.


ill try both DriveDX and swapping it with the internal ssd, be back later


thanks

Feb 2, 2021 7:43 PM in response to GavrielTech

Eek, eBay seller in China selling you a new drive but it came in a "generic" or questionable enclosure? I feel like someone has robbed you here; maybe you can have some recourse with eBay as someone sold you something that is supposed to be new but flat out does not work. Do the terms of the sale give you any right to file a grievance?


Going that route might be a hassle, especially if the price was low. If you have a different, trusted enclosure, you could try that, you sound pretty handy at moving drive hardware around. Or consider ordering a high quality enclosure from OWC, they have a good reputation for enclosures (for mechanical drives or SSDs). Good luck with this!

Feb 3, 2021 1:41 AM in response to steve626

hi


I got the enclosure separately to house the original apple ssd I was upgrading from,

The drive is for the MacBook Pro models A1398 and a few other models in that time range.


But I later realised that Apple has sort of contractual commitments for quality control of parts in China (to avoid counterfeit parts) which could end up either in a firmware conflict with the MacBook Pro but that conflict could also be the enclosure,


In any case, the only way to find out is by re installing the drive into the A1398 MacBook Pro which is exactly what aim about to do in a hour.

Feb 4, 2021 2:00 PM in response to HWTech

Hi


I ran driveDx, the Generic 500GB SSD is perfect, it was the External SSD enclosure,


I swapped it with the internal Apple 250GB ssd, installed a new system from recovery and bam, everything is ace!

Now that the Apple 250GB SSD is in the external enclosure it fails from time to time, basically ejects itself, DriveDX says although I installed the smart tech drive the enclosure does not support S.M.A.R.T. technology...so that pretty much sums up my so called CATALINA problems and why I could not get anything going on this external drive...


I will focus on one and only issue left, Stickies user data and Apple NOTES..while it syncs now I have notes offline (on my Mac) left somewhere on time machine and have to figure out where they are in the user lib containers and group containers..


my past experience with dragging all notes back from Time Machine left me with no sync for weeks, I had to temporary drag the noes on the iCloud into the offline (My Mac area), erase all the notes on iCloud, then drag the notes offline (on my Mac) back into the iCloud area to start a whole new sync process over all devices..not a pleasant experience considering I have 90GB of notes (audio, Video, photos etc)


I know it may be off topic to this thread but If you know about this please advise

thanks again, you guys are great!


P.S. the 500GB SSD from China ended up been free because the seller closed his shop when I raised a paypal case about the drive been faulty...this was months ago...im glad the problem was the enclosure though ;)

Generic SSD drive keeps disconnecting during Catalina install or back up

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